Perhaps heeding unclebarky.com's
recent admonition that he not stay
too long at the party -- yeah, right -- Larry King
announced Tuesday on CNN that he'll be quitting
his interview show sometime in the fall. Our
complete account is here. Also,
just in time for the down-and-dirty mid-term
elections, here's Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater
Story. Newly on DVD, it's won several awards
and was featured at the 2008 Dallas Video
Festival. Our review is here. Also, the latest D-FW Nielsen ratings are in.
Ed Bark

Back in play with his second comedy
series after a disastrous one on HBO, Louis C.K. gets
it a lot more right this time around. But if you're
easily offended or repulsed, definitely skip Tuesday
night's second half-hour of Louie. Then again,
you'll really be missing one hell of an
envelope-pusher. Our review is here. Also, the latest D-FW Nielsen ratings crown
The Bachelorette as Monday's undisputed
ratings queen, particularly among coveted
18-to-49-year-olds. And on my home away from home,
locatetv.com, see how CBS has
de-programmed women from leading roles in its new
fall lineup after entertaining generations with
the likes of Lucille Ball, Mary Tyler Moore and
Carol Burnett.
Ed Bark

ABC Family's Huge, co-created
by the mind behind My So-Called Life, launches
Monday night in tandem with the channel's already hot
Secret Life of the American Teenager. Our
review is here. Also, the latest D-FW Nielsen ratings are a
boon for Saturday's otherwise deflating U.S. loss
to Ghana in soccer's World Cup. Plus, CBS is
giving Alex O'Loughlin a third chance in four
years this fall with its re-do of Hawaii
Five-O. Sometimes it takes a while to find
just the right show. George Clooney, Tom Selleck,
etc. are prime examples of that, as you'll see on
my home away from home, locatetv.com.
Ed Bark

WFAA8's homegrown Good Morning
Texas on the face of it had quite a coup Friday
when local boy Jake Pavelka co-hosted. Don't worry,
though. Nothing came of it because the reliably
buttery show agreeably avoided any give-and-take
about his ongoing Bachelor breakup scandal.
Not that Pavelka's been reluctant to blab about it
elsewhere. Our review is here.
Ed Bark

The Dallas district attorney's office
has declined to prosecute a police charge of public
lewdness against Brad Hawkins, a former WFAA8
anchor/reporter who left the station in December 2008
to take a media position with Southwest Airlines.
Hawkins' attorney confirmed the action Friday. Our
story is here. Also, the latest D-FW Nielsen ratings show
one of two new Thursday night ABC series getting
off to a solid start.
Ed Bark

Boston Med, complete with
references to Dr. McDreamy, is another summertime
booster shot from docu-filmmaker Terence Wrong. Our
review is here. Also, we reprise
video of Tracy Rowlett's sermonette
on CBS11 during his first newscast for the
station. It happened more than a decade ago and
he's now been off the air nearly two years. Time
moves like a bullet train, and times have
dramatically changed during both interims. Also,
the latest D-FW Nielsen ratings are in.
Ed Bark

Wednesday morning perked up
considerably in the U.S. when Landon Donovan scored a
spine-tingling goal near the very end of a matchup
with Algeria that otherwise would have ended in a 0-0
tie. That also would have eliminated the U.S. from
the World Cup's final field of 16. But Donovan saved
the day with a score worthy of a "Do You Believe In
Miracles?" sequel from venerable Al Michaels. Such
drama. Here's how it looked:
Ed Bark

ABC's third new scripted series of the
summer, Rookie Blue, launches on Thursday
night. Better title: Rookie Blah. See our review here. Also, CNN hires
defrocked former NY governor Eliot Spitzer without
ever mentioning his past in the all-news network's
official announcement. CNN does take a shot at
rivals Fox News Channel and MSNB, though. Get our
take on the TV Bulletin Board page. Plus, the
latest D-FW Nielsen ratings show a
return to form for America's Got Talent and
a ratings plunge for ABC's new Downfall.
Ed Bark

Cynthia Izaguirre, co-anchor of
Dallas-based WFAA8's Daybreak, is on the mend
from a garage door that got the best of her nose
early Friday morning. She gives the blow-by-blow to unclebarky.com.
Also, the latest D-FW Nielsen ratings include
the first verdicts on ABC's two new Sunday night
dramas.
Ed Bark

It's a busy Father's Day on the new
programming front. ABC is striving to make summer
Sundays come alive with two new, intriguing and
heavily promoted serial dramas, The Gates and
Scoundrels. Our reviews are here.

Also, Syfy is presenting its new four-hour version of
The Phantom in one big Sunday gulp. Go
here for our review. Showtime's
rather markedly chaste The Real L Word also
debuts Sunday. Unclebarky.com has an app for that, too. And although I
haven't had enough time to review it, National
Geographic Channel's five-hour How The Earth
Changed History will be running Sunday through
Tuesday. It looks like a worthy endeavor, so
here's a link to the official website.

Plus, CW33 news finally states the very obvious in a
new ad with an unprecedented slogan. Check it out here. And of course we
also have some suggested slogans of our own.

Furthermore, the latest D-FW Nielsen ratings show
you how big the numbers got for Thursday night's
Game 7 of the NBA Finals. And nationally, TV Land
is basking in robust ratings for the premiere of
its Hot In Cleveland sitcom while Dave is
gaining on Jay. See our TV Bulletin Board page for the
particulars. Puff-puff.
Ed Bark

CBS11 found itself reporting on one of
its own when a poker game shootout involved one of
its staff photographers. Further details are here. Also, the
latest D-FW Nielsen ratings show
NBC's America's Got Talent and CW33's
sex-spiked 9 p.m. newscasts asserting themselves.
Ed Bark

Showtime's sequel to The L
Word, an unscripted soap/saga of six real-life
lesbians, arrives Sunday night without any real sex.
So whatever your sexuality, why watch? Our review is here. Also, the brand new
and heavily financed Cambio website celebrates The
Jonas Brothers, Demi Lovato and other teen/'tween
idols without filtering them through the usual
channels. We take a first look on our Web Browser page. Plus, the latest D-FW Nielsen ratings come up
big for hoops despite Tuesday's never-in-doubt
outcome.
Ed Bark

Still a new player amid a bumper crop
of cable networks, Planet Green hopes to attract
attention with a new down-on-the-farm reality series
titled The Fabulous Beekman Boys. Premiering
Wednesday, it spotlights a gay male couple
experiencing newfound acres and pains. Our review is here. Also, Fox's
Dallas-made The Good Guys had a bad time in
the latest D-FW Nielsen ratings.
Ed Bark

Four sitcom pros, most notably Betty
White, are the marquee players in TV Land's new
Hot In Cleveland, premiering Wednesday. We
take its temperature here. Also,
the latest D-FW Nielsen ratings show
big weekend returns for NBA basketball and World
Cup soccer.
Ed Bark

Sean Hayes came out as a gay man
several months ago, just in time for a
Newsweek columnist to question his suitability
for playing a straight lead in Broadway's revival of
Promises, Promises. Hayes since been nominated
for a Tony and will host the 64th annual awards
ceremony this Sunday on CBS. So what's he got to say?
Check out his surprising reticence and his carefree
approach to hosting on my home away from home,
locatetv.com.

Also, TXA21 has a Coach marathon this weekend,
with guest shots by the likes of Jerry Jones and
Troy Aikman plus a quartet of Dallas Cowboys
cheerleaders as hosts. And Wednesday's D-FW Nielsen ratings
put the clinching Stanley Cup game on ice while it
has a hockey mountain high nationwide.
Ed Bark

One age doesn't fit all, and some
people should retire sooner than others. The trick is
to know your own expiration date, and some still
haven't mastered that knack. Such as Helen Thomas. We
name other names here while also
putting your friendly content provider to the test
of life beyond this website.
Ed Bark

NBC5 anchor Mike Snyder will be
leaving the Fort Worth-based station on July 1st
after a 30-year-career. All the details and his
Wednesday morning phone interview with unclebarky.com
can be found here. Also, the latest D-FW ratings highlight
Tuesday night's 8 p.m. battle between the season
finale of Glee and the first hour of the
potent NBA Finals.
Ed Bark

Ron Galella's point-and-shoot brand of
celebrity photography often had his subjects raising
their hands in defense -- when they weren't suing or
punching him. A fascinating new HBO documentary,
Smash His Camera, remembers the way he was --
and pretty much still is. Our review is here.

David Dillon, a former Dallas
Morning News colleague and an architecture critic
of national stature, has died of a heart attack at
age 68.

David passed away at his home in Massachusetts. He
left the DMN in September 2006, taking a
buyout along with more than 100 other staffers,
including yours truly.

David was a kind and serious-minded man, but with a
terrific sense of humor to match his gravitas
on buildings gone awry. He wrote from the heart and
from a wealth of knowledge, never worrying about
offending big-time developers if he thought they
merited his wrath.

He was constructive, too, enjoying the beauty of
well-laid blueprints that became pleasures to behold.

David will always be the DMN's signature
architecture critic. His legacy in North Texas is a
quarter-century of well-considered reviews of
structures large, small, beauteous and ugly. R.I.P.,
my friend. It was a privilege to both know you and
read you.
Ed Bark

Thursday's two-hour edition of Fox's
So You Think You Can Dance will include the
mid-March auditions held at SMU's McFarlin
Auditorium. Get more details here, plus a look at
Good Day reporter Fiona Gorostiza in
action.